


Blood From A Stone

by raptorific



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Brainwashing, F/F, Gen, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Minor Character Death, Non-Linear Narrative, One-Shot, Past Brainwashing, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 07:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7351051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raptorific/pseuds/raptorific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Key moments in the life of Amelie Lacroix AKA the Widowmaker, ranging from her childhood to her relationship with Lena "Tracer" Oxton to her capture and brainwashing and finally to her eventual recovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood From A Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Took some liberties with Gerard and Tracer's backstory, lads. Also my computer can't do accent marks so please bear with me on that front. I bet this is pretty good to read while listening to Philip Glass' "Prophecies."

Tekhartha Mondatta is dead. The Widowmaker has never felt more alive. Her handlers were concerned that the rush of the kill would eventually wear off, and that no murder would be enough to bring her the few seconds of euphoric emotion she craved in every waking moment. They feared that when the day came that she could no longer be satisfied, she would turn on her creators. Tracer, broken and alone, fighting for an organization that should have been dead five years ago, watches on the rooftop as the Widowmaker takes her bow. She has failed. Tekhartha Mondatta is dead. The Widowmaker blows her a kiss, just to be cruel.

 

Amelie sits on a balcony five years earlier, taking a drag on her cigarette. She turned twenty-eight recently enough that part of the cake is still in the refrigerator. It is a dulce du leche cake with buttercream icing, exactly the kind of rich, saccharine flavors Gerard works wonders with. She looks at the stars and half-wonders about nothing in particular. She releases a small cloud of smoke and watches it dissipate. She is suddenly jarred back to reality by a high voice. An anxious-looking, short haired young woman is having trouble maintaining her grip on a bundle of papers. “Mrs. Lacroix?” the young woman calls up from ground, “Sorry to be a pest, but I've got my thesis ready, can you please tell the professor to come down?” Amelie is still riding the grown-up feeling of being able to say she's in her late twenties, so she is embarrassed to find herself attracted to someone seven years her junior. She informs the young woman that Gerard is not in, but that she'll be right down to help gather up the papers. She invites the young woman in for tea, which she sheepishly accepts. She introduces herself as Lena, although Amelie already knows who she is. Everyone who's even _heard_ of Overwatch knows who Lena Oxton is. Amelie is especially surprised to find that she is so beautiful. They'd never formally met, all Amelie had ever seen were news clippings from when she was sixteen, when she first joined Overwatch. Lena informs her, in true English fashion, that if you're inviting someone in for an actual cup of tea, it's customary to invite them for “a cuppa.” Amelie dismisses this as ridiculous and Lena laughs. Amelie smiles and Lena blushes brightly. Lena makes a comment, much bolder than she's used to being, that Gerard never mentioned his wife was so lovely. Amelie smirks, and replies that Gerard is a good man, but not exactly her “type.”

 

Gerard and Amelie are twelve years old, walking home from school. They have been best friends for eight of those years. Everyone jokes that they're bound to get married when they grow up. For a long time, they're unable to articulate why these jokes make them uncomfortable. They love each other as friends, certainly, but there's never been anything romantic between them. Amelie realized she was gay perhaps a month ago. She confesses this to Gerard on the walk home. He's supportive, as he always is, and he breaks the tension by joking that maybe now their parents will stop joking about them getting married. Amelie laughs.

 

It's ten years later. Amelie and Gerard are legally married. Gerard's internship at Overwatch has placed him at a Watchpoint in the American Northeast. Amelie's dance instructor has recommended her for an audition at a prestigious ballet in New York. Amelie's numerous attempts to secure a visa to the United States are declined. She is denied passage to America due to an arrest record from three years previously. She was arrested during a peaceful protest for Ominic Rights led by Tekhartha Mondatta. She is on a no-fly list. Gerard is unable to bear the thought that his closest friend would miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance while he lived out his most fantastic dreams. He suggests a marriage of convenience. As his spouse, Overwatch would be willing to relocate her with him. He suggests they live together to avoid suspicion, which had already been their plan once they were both in America anyway. If anyone asks, Amelie suggests, they should say it is an open marriage. This way, they wouldn't run the risk of deportation should one of them be caught with someone else.

 

It's three weeks after Lena dropped off her portfolio. Lena and Amelie have had a few flirty exchanges since they first met. Lena had been over for tea a handful of times under the pretense of reviewing her thesis with Gerard. She'd never been told, but Lena pieced together that their marriage was perhaps not as monogamous as one might expect. As of the previous day, Lena was a graduate of Overwatch's surprisingly accredited Quantum Mechanics Baccalaureate program. Gerard had been her thesis advisor, so Amelie put the thought of anything materializing between her and Lena out of mind. It would be unethical, she thought, to become involved with someone while her husband was able to influence her grades. There was no denying the chemistry and attraction between the two women, but Amelie felt nothing could happen as long as Gerard was her advisor. Lena had apparently had the same thought. The day after her final grades came in and she was an official graduate, she arrives at Amelie's door. Amelie informs her that Gerard is not home. Lena replies that she's not there to see Gerard.

 

It's four hours later, upstairs. Lena can't believe she just did that. She's _never_ that forward. Something about Amelie, though, draws a boldness hidden deep inside to the surface. Lena drifts into a quiet sleep in Amelie's bed. Amelie considers lighting a cigarette, but decides to pass rather than wake the beautiful woman currently using her chest as a pillow. Gerard arrives home a few minutes later. He sees that Amelie has a guest, laughs, and comments that he thought they had a rule about tying a handkerchief to the doorknob. Amelie resists the temptation to laugh. He quietly slips out without ever realizing he'd handed a degree to Amelie's guest only 24 hours previously. He'd have been supportive had he known, he always was, but that doesn't change the fact that he didn't notice. This is the beginning of Lena Oxton's first adult relationship, and Amelie Lacroix's longest one.

 

Tekhartha Mondatta has been dead for a month. The Widowmaker has clashed with Tracer six times in that month. The Widowmaker feels nothing for Tracer anymore. She remembers every minute of Amelie's relationship with Lena Oxton. She feels nothing. Amelie Lacroix is dead. The Widowmaker stands in her place. The memories are a weapon, nothing more. Whenever she encounters Tracer, she does something affectionate. This is an act of cruelty. She refers to Tracer as “cherie” knowing full well that's what Amelie called Lena during their relationship. Tracer can feel her heart sink into her stomach every time. She blows Tracer a kiss. Tracer feels herself die a little more inside.

 

It's five years earlier. Amelie Lacroix has been kidnapped by Talon. Gabriel Reyes and Jesse McCree have been dispatched with a team of Blackwatch operatives to retrieve her. She is recovered unharmed. As for her kidnappers, there were no survivors. Lena blots tears from her eyes as the hovercraft delivers Amelie back to her. Neither of them has any way of knowing Amelie is a ticking timebomb, set to murder Gerard in two weeks' time. Lena wouldn't find this out for another five years. Amelie killed Gerard and left without saying goodbye. Lena wondered how long Amelie had been lying to her.

 

Tekhartha Mondatta has been dead for two months. The Widowmaker and Tracer have clashed so many times the nightly news now has a recurring segment on their rivalry. Families tune in just to hear about Tracer's battles with her new nemesis. The Widowmaker continues her romantic taunts. She is close to breaking Tracer's spirit beyond repair. The Widowmaker finds an opportunity to plant a soft kiss on Tracer's lips, the kind they used to share on rainy afternoons. Tracer is, for a second, half-convinced that the real Amelie is back, and returns the kiss before realizing with horror that she's being taunted again and blinking several feet back. This would have destroyed her once and for all, if she had not noticed the effect the kiss had on the Widowmaker. The taunts had gone too far.

 

“ _Lena... Cherie...._ ”

 

Her face softens. She stands, frozen, with her hand still pressed to the empty air where Lena's cheek had been moments earlier. The two words escape her lips softly and quietly. This is not the Widowmaker's voice. This is unmistakably Amelie. When Tracer could finally catch a glimpse at the person underneath, she was suddenly able to see the mask.

 

It's one hour later. Tracer has summoned Doctors Winston and Ziegler to propose her hypothesis about the Widowmaker. She believes it is possible to save Amelie. Dr. Ziegler fears it is unwise. Dr. Winston thinks it's a longshot, but agrees to help when he sees the pain in Tracer's eyes. He convinces Ziegler to follow suit.

 

It's one hour earlier. Widowmaker's conditioning has snapped back into effect, and she's fired off several rounds in Tracer's direction. Tracer blinks far out of range, heading towards the Gibraltar Watchpoint with intense purpose.

 

It's four days later. Tracer has gone out of her way to fight the Widowmaker each and every day, trying to replicate the results of their kiss. Winston keeps a monitor on Tracer to see any possible variables that could trigger the reaction. It quickly becomes clear to Tracer that key phrases and actions from their relationship create a short break in the conditioning. Winston points out that the readings from her chronal accelerator spike whenever this happens. He speculates that the real Amelie's consciousness was destroyed in the brainwashing process, and that Tracer's ability to manipulate time, paired with her fixation on the part of the past where they were together, is allowing some version of her past consciousness to creep into the present.

 

It's one month later. Tracer has managed to break the Widowmaker's conditioning for longer than ever. She begins to hope that her Amelie has returned to her for good. After three days without a relapse, Amelie asks Lena to spend the night with her, and pick up where they left off. Tracer cautiously agrees. In the morning, Amelie is gone. A note is left in her place.

 

“ _Desole, cherie_.”

 

It's three years later. Amelie is free of Talon's influence for good. Her skin is still blue and she has her fair share of nightmares, but she has atoned for her past and rebuilt her relationship with Lena. She knows she wasn't in control when she killed Gerard, or Mondatta, or any of the Widowmaker's victims, but she still feels guilty most of the time. She misses Gerard terribly, life never quite feels the same knowing her best friend is gone, and she's horrified that she was the hand that took out the Halo. She's glad she has Lena, whose unbreakably sunny demeanor and near-constant affection and reassurance keeps Amelie from driving herself crazy.

 

It's two years, ten months earlier. The Widowmaker and Amelie are at war within Amelie's mind. There is a long road ahead of her. Amelie desperately wants to return to Lena and allow Dr. Ziegler to help her recover. The Widowmaker wants to run back to Talon for reconditioning. This personality is strong and maintains control most of the time. For the next year, Amelie is only able to keep the Widowmaker from returning to Talon. Eventually, the Widowmaker slips up and Amelie is able to enable their capture by Overwatch. With hard work and therapy, this persona will eventually be integrated and Amelie will be able to live free. Amelie is not yet aware of this. She is afraid, and the Widowmaker can feel it.

 

It's five years later. Amelie wakes up with a barely audible gasp. Lena stirs, gives her a kiss on the cheek, and asks “what'cha thinkin' bout, love?”

 

“Nothing,” Amelie replies and smiles. “A dream about a long, dangerous road I had to walk.”

 

Lena yawns. “What's at the end of the road?”

 

Amelie kisses Lena on the forehead. “ _Home._ ”

 


End file.
